I am beginning to think that the barrage of pharmaceutical ads for a variety of symptoms has had an impact on people’s attitude. In a way the ads have infected how people look at others. It comes down to this. It is way too easy to get a prescription. It is the illusion of the “quick fix”. All you have to do is swallow and the problem is solved. This mentality has also been subversive in how people view others. However, it takes way more of an effort to understand the script of another person’s existence.

I am also aware of how our society has come to accept “Reality TV” as a valid representation of any person who appears on one of those shows. However, these people are really being created through the filming and editing process of the show’s behind-the-scenes producers. In our mass media age, anything a person says or does can be altered by this process. I am a fan of the Keith and the Girl podcast and many of the guests on the show are comedians. There are quite a few of them who have been contestants on The Last Comic Standing. They all tell the story of how they did not have to stand in line to audition. Their agents did it for them and told them when to show up to do their routine. How they all knew most of the comedians involved already. They also told how they were filmed and how it was changed by the final edit of the show. How their jokes were altered by the edits. Taglines for the jokes were turned into the punch line. In the end, the comedians all had pretty much the same feeling about the show. It was crap. But it was a good way to get their names out there to more people. I am also pretty much skeptical of any reality show contest that has a phone number to vote for your favorite performer of that episode. These vote tallies are never revealed. There is no outside third party monitoring the voting process to help insure the true results. After the 2000 Presidential election, I have begun to feel that in this country we are no longer capable of holding a real legitimate election.

Comedian Doug Stanhope has just posted an article that fits into what I have just stated above. He also feels that his soul has been tainted because he was in the original preview pilot for The Last Comic Standing.

It is hard to be yourself in these modern times. I was thinking about this in another segment of my life. I do not get into much (if at all) in this blog. It is not out of shame or such. I know this blog and that segment would be a hard fit to bring together at this point. And if I did I would spend way too much time trying to explain it and defend it to people who should not get a say in the matter. There is a time and place for everything but not for everyone.

I work for a company that is probably in the Fortune 500 listings. I am guessing about that based on the fact that I cannot afford to buy a share of their stock. I am just going to leave the company nameless. I also want to stay off Human Resources and the Legal Department’s radar to be safe too. The company recently issued its policy for employee use of social network websites. The wanted employees to know their duty is to not to do harm to the company’s image. As I read through the policy I am not sure if I can even mentioned that I am employed at all. I feel like I am in some quasi Witness Protection program. If so I want to be hanging out with “Good Fellas”. Companies want some loyalty. (Loyalty has become a big issue over the last few days with Lebron James incident. I heard a sports analyst sum it up best when it comes to loyalty. He said. When companies stopped giving out pension plans, loyalty was no longer a real option.) I know companies need to have some control on how they operate. But wanting everyone to have “blind faith” can be very dangerous. “Blind faith” is part of what lead to economic meltdown. I think employees should get the same protection as people on the commentary tracks of DVD’s get. “The opinions stated on this DVD are not necessarily those of the Parent Corporation, producers, etc.” And besides if my smart ass comments and insights is the “lynch pin” that brings down the company, their business plan was big time flawed to begin with. People want to be themselves and bring what is within them to work. But it is tough with all of the over-sensitive workplace conduct policies they have to navigate. The current tough economic conditions have brought a lot of fear in to this equation too. But if we could be ourselves at work the self help industry along with daytime television would collapse. If companies are so worried about their image then they should go after and shut down the real domain where their image takes a hit from their workers. The bars. The original of social networking sites. You know why they call it “Happy Hour”? Because you are so happy that after an 8-10 hour work day you finally get to speak your mind. And there is nothing like a cold beer to fuel it. Another note to management. Those Dilbert comics on the bulletin board were not placed there for the irony.

In times like these, I try to seek media that has some sense of honesty about its content. I am a fan of the opening monologues for The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. He does use cue cards and shoots from the hip per say. His monologue is not just joke after joke in order to prime his studio audience.

I am also looking forward to reading comedian Mike Birbiglia upcoming book “Sleep Walk with Me and Other Painfully True Stories”. I like how he takes his life’s awkward moments and finds the humor in them.

I also try to catch certain shows on TV (when I have cable available) or through the Internet. I am becoming more and more a fan of Mike Rowe from the Discovery Channel’s show Dirty Jobs. You can tell he is actually doing the work himself. There are no tricks of filming or editing to fool you into believing he is doing it. Just watch his reaction during a job. It is genuine. I also still admire his TED speech on how work is viewed and how it really should be seen. The other show on the channel is The Deadliest Catch. The show is the chronicle of Alaskan crab fisherman. A job 99% of the world would never be able to handle. The men on the fishing boats are rough and tough under harsh weather conditions. They are also complex people with all of their strengths and flaws for the world to see. I do not feel they are edited and made into two dimensional stock TV characters. If these guys felt they were being shown in a way that wasn’t them that they would walk away from the show. And the producers of the show would have also been thrown off their boats into the Bering Sea. The face of the show was embodied by Capt Phil Harris. He said “A fairytale starts out ‘Once upon a time.’ A fisherman’s story starts out, ‘This ain’t no bullshit.’” Phil Harris became the center of the show this season with his own death. It was controversial but Phil believed his story needed to have an ending. And if this was the way it was. So be it. He has shown all the dimensions of himself for 5-6 seasons of the show and why stop before the final end. You know how you can determine when you have met a truly authentic person? When you get to know a person you start to realize you have never read a character like this in a book or seen on a movie or TV screen. And you want to share that persons story.

Mike Rowe’s tribute to him sums up why he made his mark on this world.

A few years ago, the producers of The Deadliest Catch made a reality show competition called “America’s Toughest Job”. It was about a group of contestants would do tough and dirty jobs for prize money. The show was also a mistake. The stakes in the show were nothing compared to the people who really have to do it for a living. And they do without having really safety nets and insurance waivers. You cannot take individuals with personality spots to fill and try to make them into real people of character. It just does not work that way. Our modern media age wants to trick you into believing that. The personalities on the shows like The Real World will for the most part come and go without leaving any lasting impression. People of character, like Phil Harris stay with you.

 Note to Phil. If you come across a person named Norm where you are. Trust me. He has a voice that can’t be missed. Have a beer with him. He was a lot like you.

Brought to you (or at least to me) today by the courtesy of the New York State Police. And the criminal element.

MUSIC: Inner Circle (What else could it be?)

It was just another coming home from work this evening. I turned on to my street. I live at the end of the street. I looked down and there was a State Police Trooper parked in my driveway. And no it was not “About time”. It had to be major because if it wasn’t then it would have probably been the local police. I could think to myself that this was not good. What did one of my tenants do? One of my tenants is a teacher. Could this be 6:00 news material? And I being the landlord meant it was going to lead to a whole series of extra questions for myself. As I approached my home I saw they had a car pulled over in my driveway. The car at least did not belong to any of my tenants. The trooper had a young couple detained in the car and he informed me they would be out of the way as soon as possible. I said it would not be a problem. Now I had another good reason other than a forecasted rainstorm coming to rake up the leaves in the yard. I now got to watch my favorite drama/sitcom COPS live. I t looks like Saturday came early this week. And it was live in my driveway!

It played like an episode in a way. Criminals should watch this show to learn what does not work when apprehended.

In this case, it was a young couple who I would say was about 17-20 years old. And you could tell by the looks that all was not well. The price of my entertainment. Another trooper car came on to the scene. Two more troopers came to search the vehicle. They checked the usual areas in the car first. Glove box, ashtray and cup holder. Surprise! Surprise! Though anti-climatic. But dependable locations for a find. Little mini vials were found. You guessed it. Drugs!

Then came all the usual questions and answers.

Trooper: “What do you have these?”

Suspect (the Female): “I don’t know. Do you think I would be stupid to drive with drugs in the car?”

NOTE: If criminals were smart then the show COPS would not be still on the air after 20+ years. And we all know the answer to her question.

The Trooper then interviewed the male suspect who I assume was her boyfriend. And by the way the girlfriend was the driver of the car. As the trooper was talking to him I overheard the usual response, “It’s her car and I do not know about any drugs.” But he was a boring interview on the whole. I guess he was throwing her “under the bus” not to save himself but to set a chance for future angry makeup sex. It is just a theory.

At this moment, I got my typical inappropriate thought given the circumstances. Call it my “curse”. Call it my “gift”. Today, it is reader’s choice. But I wanted a little more COPS style drama at this moment. And at this moment, I wish I had true Jedi powers because I just wanted to put a thought in the young man’s head. A simply thought like…

“Run! Luke. RUN!!”

So maybe I could see the chance of a good tasering of a jackass.

Or I could get to yell, “He is the droid you’re looking for!”

Next, came out the handcuffs for both of the suspects. And I want to know why more times than not a woman cries when handcuffs are put on?

The troopers did a second search of the car. They looked in the trunk for more treasures. It was good to know that the young “innocent until proven guilty” suspects were prepared for an emergency. With such items as jumper cables, snow shovel, flashlight and a box of extra car stereos. I am guessing the last item is going to be rewarded with an extra charge.

This whole episode was almost a two hour process. But it was an interesting thing to watch none the less.

I must commend the real show for doing a good job on editing such episodes to hit the highlights of such moments.

But I got to watch it for free. And live shows these days usually cost much than they are worth.

The popular rhetoric for this year’s election is “Change”. And this is one of the most unspecific goals out there. It has no firm definition what so ever. And that will come back to bite you in the ass. Here is my prediction. “Change” will be the message for 2012 election. The 2016 election. And the 2020 we will still be hearing again about “Change”. Due to inflation the 2024 election theme will be “Can you break a 20?”

This is the best poll out there for the election.

It is all nonsense.

I just want to say that I am not one of those hardcore sports fans. I know enough about football to be able to enjoy a Buffalo Bills game. Let me side track for a moment. It is not easy being a Buffalo Bills fan but this year with a 4-1 record to start has made things easier. The problem is the ability to remain cautiously optimistic. I am afraid if I get too optimistic I am setting myself up for a major letdown. That being said let me get back on this brief topic. It is ironic that as not being a hardcore fan I find myself listening to sports radio a lot lately. I know it is complete nonsense. In the end it means nothing. The reality is it does not have to mean anything. It does not have to be anything of major consequence. I use to listen to political topics on the radio but the consequence to those topics can really mean something in the end. The sad reality is that the current state of it is nothing more than being completely ridiculous. It is all just screaming the other side is wrong. Talk radio is not a conversation of the issues what so ever. A conversation not only involves talking but it also includes listening. This is the basis for honest debate. I do not care what side you are on but you are kidding yourself to believe you are hearing any really conversation and debate in this election year. It has all become one elaborately displayed infomercial by all sides. The person who promises you the most will deliver you the least in the end.

But to get back to sports. I had a professor in college who says man invents sports because there are no absolutes in life. The rules in the game are rigidly structured to insure the competition. We like honest competition. There has been a lot of talk about how unfair competition is and how we do not like it. If that was true then why do watch so many sporting events in this country?

Enough of my attempting to lecture. If you want to call it that.

There was a television show called Sports Night
that was on ABC from 1998-2000. It was a series about the behind-the-scenes of a sports talk TV network. The show was best known as being called by several critics as being “The Best Show You Are Not Watching”. The show may have been about a sports network but it was not always about sports.

It did have one of my favorite scenes on television. Let me give you some set up about the scene. The sports network is in 3^rd place by a distance in the ratings. There is a lot of pressure from the corporation that owns it to improve the ratings or else there are going to drastic actions taken. The following scene is about the pressure being applied. In this scene there are two characters you need a little more information about to grasp the situation. There is the show’s managing editor Isaac Jaffee (played by Robert Guillaume) who has come back after surviving a stroke. The network is trying to use this as a reason for his replacement. Sam Donovan (played by William H. Macy) is an outside expert who has been hired to fix the show.

Click here for the scene. I was unable to embed it into this posting. So please watch it before reading on.

My favorite part of the scene is the anecdote about Cliff Gardner. I think that he is the type of person many of wish we could find more often in our lives. The person who can help provide you with what you need to accomplish the goal. Too often people like to be in the way then be helpful. They would rather point out how you fail rather than point out how they may be able to help. And the people who talk the most more often than not are the ones who will do the least. We all have skills but we all cannot be skillful in everything. But any person who thinks he is the “smartest” one in the room is setting up his ego for big letdown. It is hard to find those willing to help. There are too many people out there like the network people in the scene. They think they are the smart ones and they feels this entitles them to act like bullies and dictators. It’s a petty power play to hold back “knowledge” in order to control people. In the end, more times than not these types of people are the real “idiots”. It is like a kitchen where everyone thinks that the “cook” is what makes it happen. But in reality the kitchen is run by a group of people working together to produce the “meal”. Example, the dishwasher is treated as “low man” of a kitchen but what good is a meal if it is served on a dirty plate.

We are all trying to create or be a part something that is bigger than ourselves. We can be aware of what we need to do. But we cannot have the skill level needed to get the job done. Example, we all can put a bad-aid on a cut but we also know that if the cut is severe enough to need stitches. And the majority of us do not have the skill to put in the stitches but we know how to go about finding the person to do it.

And on a technical note. Watch how Sam moved the network people through the scene and where he stops to talk to them. Personally, these are the things I look at when watching TV. I am not saying that I am “smart” for noticing these things. It is just that I watch TV differently than most of the people I know. I study TV and film in order to be a better writer/creator of such things. It is part of the process.